Articles Posted in Brain Injury

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Michael Gerhards, 68, hit his head when he slipped and fell on ice outside his home. He was taken by ambulance to Providence St. Vincent Medical Center where he was diagnosed as having a forehead laceration and right shoulder strain. He was sent home.

Over the next few weeks, he followed up with various internists at a health clinic regarding ongoing headaches, amnesia and fatigue.

Gerhards was advised to take pain medication. Three weeks after the fall, his wife found him unconscious. He was rushed to the hospital where a CT scan revealed a bilateral subdural hematoma that was causing a brain herniation. He underwent two brain surgeries.
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Doe, 14, began experiencing headaches, balance issues, fatigue and dizziness. In 2015, Doe underwent an MRI at Florence MRI & Imaging, where radiologist Dr. Zachary Kilpatrick interpreted the MRI as showing no abnormalities, critical findings or cause for concern.

Doe’s symptoms continued intermittently. He underwent a second MRI in 2018. This time, Dr. Kilpatrick identified a brain tumor on the scan.

Doe underwent surgery to remove the tumor of the cerebellum followed by radiation and chemotherapy. Afterwards, Doe suffered a debilitating stroke and continued to experience disabling symptoms, including severe nausea, vision and speak deficits, as well as difficulty walking.
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After Ms. Doe, 35, delivered her third child, she continued to hemorrhage. Doe’s attending obstetrician ordered exploratory surgery to determine the cause of the bleeding. Doe was transferred to an operating room.

The obstetrician allegedly did not order a backup supply of compatible blood before this surgery. Additionally, the attending anesthesiologist did not order the emergency release of blood for Doe, despite her continued bleeding.

During the surgery, Doe coded. Medical staff were able to resuscitate her, but she suffered catastrophic brain damage. Doe died the next day and was survived by her fiancé and three minor children.
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During an endoscopy procedure at a surgery center, Nicholas Merlo’s oxygen saturation declined. A surgery center employee called 911. Emergency medical crews from American Ambulance arrived. Merlo was intubated and transported to the nearest hospital.

Enroute to the hospital, paramedics in the ambulance allegedly noted that Merlo had no breath sounds on one side and that his oxygen levels had dropped. Multiple attempts to reintubate Merlo in the back of the ambulance were unsuccessful.

When Merlo did arrive at the hospital, he suffered cardiac arrest. That lack of oxygen resulted in hypoxic brain damage. Merlo, 39, is now in a permanent vegetative state.
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A hospital and doctor have agreed to pay $12 million to settle a lawsuit filed by an Indiana mother whose baby sustained permanent brain damage during child birth in 2002.

The mother, K.C., on behalf of her daughter, filed the lawsuit in 2010 against Dr. Monique Jones and Advocate South Suburban Hospital in Hazel Crest. The plaintiff alleged that, when she went into labor, Jones acted negligently.

The lawsuit says Jones, who was the patient’s obstetrician, failed to recognize that the fetus was distressed. The doctor ordered or gave K.C. more Pitocin, a contraction-inducing drug. Increased contractions resulted in a loss of oxygen to the baby, and the baby suffered a permanent brain injury, according to the plaintiff’s suit.
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Christine Coffey was diagnosed as having a “berry aneurysm.” The vascular surgeon assigned to Coffey was Dr. Henry Woo who reviewed Coffey’s images and advised her that an untreated aneurysm could cause sudden death.

Dr. Woo performed an Onyx brain aneurysm procedure. During the procedure, Coffey suffered brain damage that has left her with permanent hemiparesis. Hemiparesis, or unilateral paresis, is the weakness of one side of the body. Hemiparesis can be caused by different medical conditions, including stroke.
Coffey had worked at a hospital, but she is now unable to work. She also has an impaired ability to take care of her young child.

Coffey sued Dr. Woo alleging negligence in that he chose not to obtain an informed consent. The lawsuit claimed that Dr. Woo had forced the liquid Onyx embolic agent into Coffey’s small aneurysm, causing the Onyx particles to escape the aneurysm and cause a stroke. Coffey also asserted that Dr. Woo decided not to advise her of the dangers of the surgery and safer available alternatives.
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In December 2015, the plaintiff, Michael Burke, who was then 73 years old, underwent a scheduled hernia repair at Northwestern Medicine-Kishwaukee Hospital in DeKalb, Ill.

After this hernia repair surgery, his blood pressure dropped and he complained of severe abdominal pain. Burke’s family asked the surgeon, Dr. Stephen Goldman, to look in on Burke, but Dr. Goldman allegedly said that he would not do so until he was finished with other patients.

At about 6 p.m. that same day, Dr. Goldman performed an exploratory surgery and found Burke’s abdomen was full of blood. An hour later, Burke’s wife noticed her husband had weakness on the left side of his face, he was unable to fully open his left eye, his lip was drooping and his speech was slurred.
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Bradley Metts, who was 9 years old at the time of this incident, was evaluated for severe ear pain by his primary care physician at University Medical Associates. Eight days after the evaluation, Bradley’s condition deteriorated; he developed headache, nausea, vomiting and photophobia. Bradley returned to the clinic where a nurse practitioner described him as being acutely ill.

The medical provider at the clinic ordered various STAT (immediate) blood tests, including an erythrocyte sedimentation rate test and a C-reactive protein test.

Although the lab samples were sent to Athens Medical Laboratory by the mid-afternoon, the results, which were markedly elevated, were not returned for six days.
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Keimoneia Redish was a 40-year-old mother of five who suffered from asthma. When she experienced breathing difficulties, her partner took her to a hospital emergency department. Testing there showed that her carbon dioxide level was above normal at 57 mmol/L and that her pH level was 7.28, which is below normal and indicated mild hypercapnia and acidosis. Hypercapnia is a condition of abnormally elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the blood. Acidosis is a condition in the blood that causes the pH level to fall below the normal limit of 7.35.

Although steroids and other treatments over several hours were administered, Redish’s condition did not improve. She was admitted to the hospital’s intensive care unit, where an attending physician intubated her and placed her on a mechanical ventilator.

Her carbon dioxide level and pH remained stable but still out of range of normal. A pulmonologist later examined Redish and recommended that she continue the ventilator but also add Ketamine, which is a medication mainly used for starting and maintaining anesthesia. The pulmonologist indicated that if Redish’s condition did not improve, general anesthesia to relieve her bronchospasms would be recommended.
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Sharon Wiser, 62, had a history of migraine headaches. She experienced right-sided headaches over a two-week period. She went to Essentia Health Duluth Clinic, where she reported her headache history and told the clinic staff that she was suffering from blurred vision.

Wiser was discharged from the clinic with a diagnosis of a migraine headache and was given a prescription for Toradol. The next day, she consulted a family physician who advised her to follow up if her symptoms did not improve.

One week later, she returned to Duluth Clinic, where internist Dr. Alan Peterson ordered a CT scan of her head. The next night, however, she went to an emergency room, complaining of a significant headache.
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